Twist and Shout was performed once by the Grateful Dead, with members of Jefferson Airplane, on 7th September 1969.

Twist and Shout was written to cash in on two pop music phenomenon: the Twist craze, which was in full flow at the time, and the earlier success of the Isley Brothers first big hit Shout!. Twist and Shout was first recorded by the Top Notes in 1961 and then by the Isley Brothers in 1962. The Isley Brothers version reached #17 in the pop charts and #2 in the R&B charts. Bert Russell was a writing name used by Bert Berns.